Why the Packers Streak Will Stop in Detroit : Packers Insider

Why the Packers Streak Will Stop in Detroit

Retired football Coach Madden joined Brian in a debate over who will win this Thursday’s key NFC North game in Detroit.

~WHY THE PACKERS WILL MOTOR THRU DETROIT STILL UNDEFEATED

By Christopher Madden, Packers Insider Analyst

1- Aaron Rodgers
He is the unquestioned MVP of the NFL so far in 2011 and will be the best player on the field. He has shown the ability to get anyone and everyone involved in the game and prevents any defense from being able to shut down the pass because he simply has too many weapons and knows how to use them all to beat any defense.

The Lions are potent and have talent everywhere on their D-Line. But they've lost at home already this season to Alex Smith and Matt Ryan. Rodgers is a league above those two guys. Advantage Packers.

2- Aaron Rodgers
He is so good he deserves another comment. He is a winner. Having won the Super Bowl this February and battling for weeks of must-win games makes a game like this just another game for him. This game won’t phase Rodgers and he actually thrives in moments like this.
He has won and played at an extremely high level in the highest of stages in last year’s Super Bowl so this will be just another game for him unlike the QB who will be taking the snaps for the Lions.

If Rodgers could handle the Steelers with Harrison, Woodley, Polamalu, and coach Dick LeBeau with ease in a loud dome, he can handle the Lions defense in a dome.

3- Charles Woodson
He loves the spotlight, and coming back to Michigan seems to always bring out his best. Two years ago he took back an INT for a touchdown in a Packers Slaughter on Turkey Day and he will be looking to do it again Thursday. Yes, he will get beat a few times but the risk seems to always be worth the reward every time number 21 lines up in the game so Matthew Stafford better be careful.

Former Michigan Wolverine Charles Woodson loves to return to Detroit. While he has had problems with Calvin Johnson (what CB hasn't), he's also feasted a bit on Stafford. Here, Thanksgiving 2009, Woodson pick-6'd Stafford. Will we see another one this week?

4- Clay Matthews
Points will be plenty in this game, but having a guy with his motor will be an added bonus when looking for that key sack to stop a drive. Clay seems to thrive in big games and having the national spotlight on him this day will be just what he needs. I would expect two sacks for him in this game.

5- Packers Experience
Having so many guys that have won a Super Bowl, Playoff games on the road, and every team gearing up for them each week has only made this team tougher. This has nothing to do with what they will face in Detroit but Green Bay has become the New England of the NFL, the team that everyone aspires to be.

Expect Coach McCarthy and Rodgers to exit Ford Field Thursday at 11-0, and to enjoy a team Turkey dinner later that night.

PredictionGreen Bay 37
Detroit 24

Detroit will get their points. Green Bay will get theirs. This is a game for men. The home crowd will be louder then ever before at Ford Field. It will work until the middle of the third quarter. That is when the thoroughbreds will make their move. It will come quick. It will take a close game and bring it out of reach.

#1- The Packers defense has made lesser QB’s and offenses look great this yearMatthew Stafford and the Lions are coming off a 35-point second half at home vs. Carolina en route to a 49-35 win over the Panthers. Stafford threw 5 touchdown passes in the game. And none went to Calvin Johnson.
The Packers have made numerous quarterbacks look Hall of Famish at times this year, from great ones like Drew Brees, to struggling Philip Rivers, rookie Cam Newton, and bottom-10 Josh Freeman this past week.

If Rivers and the Chargers can roll up 38 points, on grass, against the Packers defense, these Lions could put up 49 on these Packers as they did to Carolina on Sunday.

Sadly for Packer fans, expect Lions QB Matthew Stafford to receive the "Galloping Gobbler" Thursday after handing the Packers their first loss of the season.

This is Stafford coming off a 5-touchdown game and his total of 20 touchdown passes this year is 4th in the NFL, behind only Rodgers, Brees, and Brady.

Remember, the Packers only scored 30 on Carolina in week two. Detroit just scored 49 on them over the final three quarters.

#2- The Lions beat the Packers last year once, and almost beat them in Green Bay as well. Both times with backup QB’s
Make no mistake about it. Believing you can beat a team can give a team the confidence that’s necessary to win. These guys know they can beat the Packers because they did it the past time Green Bay visited Ford Field. And they beat the Packers with their 3rd string QB, Drew Stanton. And they did it in a year they went 6-10. Now the Lions are 7-3, and have their franchise QB Stafford starting, as well as a healthy group of WR’s and TE’s.

#3- Megatron
Calvin Johnson has given Charles Woodson and the Packers fits since he entered the league. He’s beaten Woodson high and low, inside and outside, for touchdowns. And that was a younger Woodson.

While Woodson has had an interception for a touchdown each of the past two seasons against the Lions, Calvin Johnson has found the end zone quite a few times.

The Packers best bet will be to put the taller and faster Tramon Williams on Johnson. However, Packer fans might remember Mike Williams this past week having his best game of the season, with a touchdown and other big catches against Williams. Also, Tramon was victimized repeatedly in San Diego three weeks ago by Vincent Jackson, who had been struggling all year until that game.

Johnson is in a league of his own as far as talent and size go. He’s a mismatch for whoever the Packers put on him, as history shows.

#4- The Scheffler Factor
It’s no secret the Packers linebackers always have trouble with good tight ends. From Greg Olsen to Vernon Davis to Antonio Gates and now Kellen Winslow, opposing tight ends often have season highs against the heavy feet and slow hips of AJ Hawk and Desmond Bishop.

The Lions have Brandon Pettigrew starting at tight end, but it’s the dancing machine Tony Scheffler, Greg Jennings former teammate at Western Michigan, who find the end zone.

A sight for sore eyes? It is for Packer fans. Lions tight end Tony Scheffler has had plenty of touchdown dances this season.

All he does is catch touchdowns. And then do his creative John Travolta-esque dancing afterwards. Scheffler is happy to be out of Denver.

#5- The Lions Defensive Line
They’re talented and mean, and they take pride taking out quarterbacks. It was a seemingly harmless scramble last year that got Aaron Rodgers concussed and knocked out of the game, and it was a linebacker, DeAndre Levy. But the Lions D-Line will be getting after Rodgers and they have a relentless cast.

It starts with the dirty, but dominating Ndamukong Suh. But there’s also the relentless DE’s Kyle Vanden Bosch and Cliff Avril off the edges, and former Packer Corey Williams and this year’s first rounder Nick Fairley in the middle. Fairley has also been fined for dirty hits, as Suh has repeatedly.

Aaron Rodgers helmet bounces into the Ford Field turf last year in the 2nd quarter. It would give Rodgers a concussion and end his game, and lead to the Packers losing the game, only scoring 3 points. The Lions, admit it or not, will be trying to put Rodgers on the sideline again Thursday. Rodgers has been too careless lately taking unnecessary hits and tackles. He has to throw the ball away instead of taking a sack, because on any tackle, a foot, ankle, or knee can be injured. Or a hand, as Jay Cutler found out Sunday.

These guys are capable of dominating the Packers offensive line, especially with Marshall Newhouse on one edge, and Bryan Bulaga on the other edge less-than-100% health-wise.

Rodgers has taken far too many hits the past few weeks, both in the pocket, out of the pocket, and running the ball.
Frightfully, his luck might run out this week, again in Detroit. We’ve just seen four other playoff-focused teams lose their quarterbacks for the season or a few games (Schaub in Houston, Vick in Philadelphia, Cassel in Kansas City, and Cutler in Chicago). Rodgers has been flirting with fire since the first time he faced Jared Allen back in week 7.

I don’t think the Packers offensive line can keep him clean enough in Detroit and I expect Rodgers to be battered in this game, clean or nor on the Lions part.

#6- The Ford Field Fanatics
Fair-weather fans or not, the place will be as loud as ever as they relish the opportunity to show they are contenders and knock off the defending champions in front of the rest of the league who will all be home watching it.

If you don’t think that crowd can be a factor against a superior Packers team, you might have forgotten a few Packers visits to Detroit during the Favre era. That team lost in Detroit even during their 1996 championship season, and much of it had to do with the crowd and crowd noise. Just like in Minnesota, the noise has an impact on the Packers offensive line. It gives the defense a slight head-start going after the quarterback.

Yes, the Packers still won at Minnesota despite Jared Allen sacking and chasing Rodgers all day. But that was only a 6-point win, and it was Christian Ponder’s first start ever at QB in the NFL. The crowd noise will be a factor on Thursday.

Ford Field will be rocking on Thanksgiving, and the fans and team will celebrate as if they had won the Super Bowl.

#7 Never-Say-Die
The Lions win over Carolina last week was the third time this season they have come back to win a game that they trailed by 17 or more points. These guys don’t mind falling behind. They never give up, and won’t be phased if Rodgers propels the Packers out to a 21-0 or 27-7 lead. The Lions have come back from more than that to beat the Cowboys and Vikings earlier this year.

Prediction: Lions 45
Packers 35

As long as Rodgers and the other key guys exit Detroit relatively healthy, this loss will do more good than harm, as was the case the last time the Packers were 10-0 almost 50 years ago.

That was the 1962 season and those 10-0 Packers also lost in Detroit on Thanksgiving. That Packer team went on to win the NFL title. Will history repeat itself?

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NOTES:
-It will be nice to get the Seahawks into Lambeau Field finally, and let them hear our 12th men. This will surely be a Game of the Week, either on NBC Football Night in America, Fox, or else Monday Night Football.

-Dallas returns to the "scene of the crime". This will be one of the highest rated games of the season in the NFL, if not number one.

-Visits from Philip Rivers and Jamaal Charles of the AFC West.

-Road trip to San Francisco, hopefully the first of two games there for the 2015 season. The Super Bowl is there. Or how about 3 wins there? Has that ever been done? Beat them there in the regular season. And beat them there in the NFC playoffs, and then win the Super Bowl there.

-Rare visit to Mile High Stadium (Sports Authority Field at Mile High) for a hopeful Rodgers vs Peyton Manning showdown.
It will be the Packers first game there in 8 years.
Last time there was an overtime win against Jay Cutler's Broncos when Brett Favre hit Greg Jennings for an 82-yard bomb in stride on the very first play in overtime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i5ssRj41Xs

-The Packers also visit Charles Woodson and James Jones in Oakland.

-Two tough defenses will welcome the Packers as road games to Arizona and Carolina loom large in the NFC.